Hugh Jackman's transformation into Wolverine is legendary. To embody the character, Jackman committed to intense training and a strict diet. This article delves into the specifics of his Wolverine workout and diet, drawing on information provided by his trainers and Jackman himself.
The Wolverine Physique: A Combination of Strength and Leanness
Jackman's Wolverine physique is characterized by significant muscle mass and low body fat. This requires a comprehensive approach that combines strength training, cardio, and a carefully planned diet. Even in 2018’s Logan, Jackman still looks incredibly more cut and stronger than his original breakout role in 2000, despite being in his early 50s.
Training Principles
Several key training principles underpinned Jackman's Wolverine transformation:
- Progressive Overload: Gradually increasing the weight, tension, or stress placed on the body during exercise. Jackman’s trainer took a percentage of his 1-rep max (1RM) for his main lifts as a baseline for what he should be lifting each week. For the first 3 weeks, the weight was continuously raised until the fourth week. The next bloc would begin again at Week 1, but this time Jackman would add 5% to 10% of his 1RM on top of what he was already lifting.
- Variety: Introducing new exercises and training techniques to "confuse" the muscles and prevent plateaus. Routine is important, and so are the three lifts, but it’s just as important to add variety into your routine and “confuse” your muscles. Not only that, but it’s also a good way to keep up your motivation-everyone gets sick of doing the same thing over and over again.
- Morning Workouts: Training in the morning to prioritize fitness and reduce the likelihood of missed sessions. Not only does this set you off on the right foot for the day, but if you make it into a priority in the morning, you’re much less likely to miss a training session.
- Supersets: Performing exercises back-to-back with minimal rest to maximize workout intensity and efficiency. The time between this change should be minimized in order to really build up the fatigue in your muscles.
Workout Structure
Jackman's routine to get into shape draws from a wide range of strategies. While it sometimes depends on the role (for example, he had to get much leaner for his role in Les Miserable), the Wolverine look is all about getting big and getting lean. In general, his workouts incorporated:
- Warm-up: A 10-minute cardio session before each workout.
- Weightlifting: Focus on compound exercises like deadlifts, bench presses, and squats with lower reps and heavier weights to stimulate myofibrillar hypertrophy. His bread-and-butter exercises are the weightlifting big three-deadlifts, bench presses, and squats. His trainer, David Kingsbury, has encouraged him to stick to lower reps while increasing the weight. This technique stimulates myofibrillar hypertrophy, which is necessary for strength gains.
- Cardio: 20 to 30 minutes of cardio after weightlifting, and sometimes an additional cardio session later in the day depending on whether he was bulking or cutting.
- Cool-down: Stretching and bodyweight exercises like push-ups. Jackman does regular cardio, including stretching and some bodyweight exercises such as push-ups.
Sample Workout
The man lifts are all done as percentages of the 1RM. Below is an example of some of the workouts that Jackman and his trainer used in order to make the Wolverine into a terrifyingly powerful superhero. This is just one of the examples of a training routine that Jackman used, but as already mentioned above, training and diet changed when it came to bulking and cutting.
Read also: Hugh Jackman Transformation
The Wolverine Diet: Fueling the Transformation
In order to gain so much muscle mass while also keeping it lean, diet came first and foremost when trying to sculpt the Wolverine.
General Principles
Mike Ryan, the personal trainer responsible for getting Aussie actor Hugh Jackman into shape to play Woverine in the X-Men movie series, states that “While training for Wolverine we were on six meals a day, minimum - sometimes seven". “There’s no point in me saying, ‘You must eat this or that’. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and as long as you stick to the basic rules you can customise this plan to suit your own needs.”So what are those rules? “Always get your protein from natural, unprocessed sources where possible. Eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones. Drink mainly water. Avoid all processed foods, and that includes anything that says ‘99% fat-free’ or similar.”
Bulking and Cutting
Although he ate clean the entire time to make cutting easier, it was still necessary to be putting on mass while cutting fat because of the stringent movie production timelines. What helped was an initial bulking phase which helped him get up to the weight he wanted to be at, and then a cutting phase in order to get ready for filming. This is an option if you’re on a race against time, but most people have a year-long bulk/cut phase which will benefit you to a greater degree-it’s just that the results won’t come as fast.
Macronutrient Cycling
The first is carb cycling. While not quite the keto diets that we’ve looked at in the past, the main emphasis is still placed on limiting carb intake. However, carb intake is only limited on rest days, when there’s minimal or no physical activity. This is especially important if you’re trying to gain lean muscle mass-or at least as much of it as possible. Not enough fuel to power your movements and you risk leaving gains on the table.
Meal Frequency and Timing
Eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones. The need for good-quality protein either side of a hard workout is also a priority. “If you can’t get it from natural sources,” Ryan says, “use a supplement. We were using protein powder regularly.
Read also: Hugh Jackman's Transformation
Sample Meal Plan
Here you’ll find an example of a typical day’s food for the hard-training action star, but Ryan is keen to stress that it is only a template that can be adapted to any tastes.
- Breakfast: Soak 75g rolled oats in apple juice. Mix in 2tsp pumpkin seeds, 2tsp sunflower seeds and a handful of berries.
- Snack: Reflex BCAAs. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are the building blocks of protein.
- Pre-Workout: Maximuscle Creatamax Extreme and Viper Extreme bar.
- Post-Workout: Blend a scoop of MyProtein Impact whey powder (our suggestion), half a banana, 300ml semi-skimmed milk, a pinch of cinnamon and 15g ground cashew nuts. Whey protein powder is a quick and easy way to gain fuel for muscle replenishment and growth.
- Lunch: Turkey is a lean source of protein and is also rich in muscle-building amino acids. The vitamin K in the spinach will help strengthen your bones, while cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower are rich in nutrients that reduce your oestrogen, a hormone that lowers testosterone. Serve with unlimited amounts of vegetables including broccoli and cauliflower.
- Dinner: Chicken is rich in amino acids to encourage muscle growth and repair, as well as zinc, which raises your levels of muscle-building testosterone. Serve with unlimited amounts of vegetables including broccoli and cauliflower.
- Evening Snack: Blend a carton of EAS Myoplex Carb Sense (our suggestion) with 2tsp natural yogurt, a drizzle of honey and 15g almonds. A protein fix gives your muscles the building blocks to repair and grow while you sleep.
Supplements
Jackman also used creatine, BCAAs, and L-Carnitine, in order to aid in bulking and cutting.
Jackman's Deadpool 3 Diet
Hugh Jackman brought his lean and ripped physique out of retirement suiting up to play Wolverine in the blockbuster Deadpool 3. For anyone wondering, the Aussie actor was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and revealed the high caloric intake he was consuming to build the muscle necessary to don the iconic yellow suit.
When asked about his diet, the actor explained, 'It’s 6,000 calories, and it’s not the calories you necessarily want. Like, half a pizza is 6,000 calories. But no, this is chicken, and it’s tilapia and beans. Tilapia and beans. I don’t know why tilapia. It must be some fish that is lean, and green beans.'
Jackman previously took to Instagram early in the year to post an image of one of the tilapia meals. As a rough estimate, each meal would contain:
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- 130-150 calories
- 15-25 grams protein
- 3-10 grams carbohydrate
- 1-5 grams fat
After his admission that he ate 6000 calories a day, it's fair to assume the he would have had to eat a fair few of these portions, or that he was previously in a cutting phase on a lower calorie goal. Regardless, it provides a stark difference to the Sunday roast cheat meals, complete with a pizza side he revealed he was previously eating.
The high protein content of the meals and fibre from the greens, are likely selected to support satiety and keep him filled up. However, the meals seem to be very low in overall calories, carbohydrates and fats, making them an insufficient full meal to support an active lifestyle, even for those wanting to cut weight.
Jackman recently revealed it took him six months of intense training to prepare for his return as Wolverine and the actor was seen hitting the gym with some heavy trap bar deadlifts on his Instagram. Because of last year's SAG-AFTRA strike, Jackman had to follow the diet for longer than originally planned.